Grim Reaper in the Apocalypse: Reaping Immortals

Lizzie opened the blinds on her truck and saw a traffic jam up ahead. There were Saviors and civilians alike stuck on their horse mounts unable to proceed further. One by one, they had to take a U-turn and take another route.

"I wonder what's wrong," commented Lizzie.

After a few more minutes, the traffic jam cleared up enough for the truck to have its chance to take a U-turn.

As they pivoted out, they saw the barricades and barriers blocking the road. They were accompanied by soldiers stationed around the entrance of the road, preventing any curious civilian from entering the area.

There were military trucks parked aside hiding more soldiers ready to come out with weapons in case anyone tried to forcefully enter the blockade.

"Why is this road closed off?" Atlan asked, but Lizzie had no idea as well.

She would have stopped the truck and asked the soldiers for the reason why they barricaded this road, but they were in the middle of the road and there were other vehicles behind them waiting for their time to make a U-turn.

"This would have led directly to the church. Whatever. We'll take the next route."

Lizzie imputed some directions on the tablet installed on the truck's dashboard. Experience new stories with empire

After a few seconds, the truck made its U-turn and headed in the other direction.

Meanwhile, Lizzie scoured the reports on her tablet. She looked at articles and postings about the blockade, but she couldn't find anything.

Funnily enough, all the articles were about the Star Porter and his transcendent talent. There was a lot of discourse talking about his new achievement of advancing to the 3rd stage within just a few weeks.

"Why are you so popular?!" she complained.

Atlan had no excuse. He didn't think that he'd advance his Physique LifeSkill to the 3rd stage after his unofficial second mission.

Should I not put experience in my LifeSkill for now?

Atlan pondered whether he should postpone his advancement to the next stage to stay more low-key, but he decided against it. He needed all the strength he could get.

The truck continued on its route until they were stopped once again by a traffic jam further up ahead.

"Another one?! What is happening?"

Thankfully, this road was not a dead-end. Vehicles and mounts could simply turn left or right to change their routes. They didn't have to make a U-turn like the blockade last time.

Lizzie maneuvered the truck to park beside the blockade. A soldier quickly walked up next to the window and saluted Lizzie and Atlan.

"Why can't we go on this road?" Lizzie asked, annoyed.

This was not the first angry citizen the soldier had to talk to, so he knew how to handle it.

"We apologize for any inconvenience, Miss Lizzie. HeadQuarters itself issued a blockade on this street. They don't want anyone going in."

Atlan looked ahead and saw soldiers inside the blockade escorting citizens away from their homes.

Lizzie noticed it too.

There was only one possibility as to why there was a blockade here.

"Is it a Symptom?"

The soldier nodded. "Unfortunately, yes. We've been told that this road has been affected by the Canzers' rampage."

A Symptom usually entailed some kind of obvious destruction around the affected area.

For Atlan's first mission, the walls started melting like wax and turned everything into a very viscous liquid. For his second mission, there was a sudden onset heatwave that turned the Masamune district into an oven that could melt even metal.

However, when he looked ahead at the blockade, he didn't see any sort of destruction that he expected when he thought of a Symptom. Even the civilians being escorted out of their homes looked fine and healthy.

There was no difference between this road and the other roads beside it.

"A Symptom…why isn't it in the reports?"

Lizzie looked at her tablet again, but couldn't find any ongoing mission listed on it. And for two major roads to be affected, then the Symptom was considered to be quite large. A mission like this should be the headline of any news.

"It can't be helped. We'll have to go to the other side of the City to get to the Church."

But as it turned out, they couldn't even do that.

"Oh, I'm sorry Miss Lizzie. The four major roads connecting to the Church are all blockaded right now."

That revelation sent a wave of shock to Lizzie's face. It finally made sense to her why such a big operation was hidden from the public view.

"With the major roads blocked, there could only be one reason."

"What is it?" Atlan asked.

"It's the Church. The main Symptom must be located there."

There was a sense of gravity and anxiousness in her voice. Atlan didn't know why. He found no reason to worry about it as much as she did. From what he knew, Symptoms always appeared in the City and were quickly dealt with by Saviors.

"Why is it bad that a Symptom appeared in the Church?"

Lizzie looked over to the soldier and knew that this wasn't the right place to talk about it.

"I'll tell you later. We'll have to get off the truck for now and walk to the Church. It's cool if we park my truck here, right?"

The soldier nodded and guided the truck away from traffic.

"Anyway, thanks for telling us. Good luck with your job." Lizzie saluted to the soldier, and the soldier saluted to her back.

She then led Atlan to a discreet pathway outside the main roads that led directly to the City.

Once they were out of earshot with no one around them, Lizzie walked right next to Atlan and whispered.

"You aren't supposed to know this yet, but I'm going to tell you now."

"Is it something to do with the Symptom at the Church?"

"Yes," she answered. "Places around Genesis City all have different levels of priority for HeadQuarters.

They are called Critical Points."